1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a control lever assembly in which a single lever is adapted to control two functions, and is particularly adapted for, but not limited to, controlling a marine propulsion system for controlling a throttle and a clutch/gearbox assembly.
2. Prior Art
Single lever control assemblies for marine control applications as above have been used for many years and commonly are relatively complex apparatus which are costly to manufacture and service. In many prior art apparatus there is an unsatisfactory proportionality between movement of the lever and a corresponding movement of a signal output means which is responsive to the lever. Commonly, particularly with marine control appartus, one function requires operating independently of the other, for example, when the clutch/gearbox assembly is in neutral and the throttle is to be operated to drive auxiliary apparatus independently of the gearbox, called a throttle override. In such apparatus, disengagement of the clutch signal output means to enable independent operation of the throttle signal output means commonly necessitates disengageable couplings between the lever and the signal output means. This further increases complexity and cost of the apparatus.
An apparatus of this general type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,106,604 in which the inventor is Masanao Baba. Whilst this apparatus has a desirable lever/output proportionality which is an improvement over some previous devices, it can be seen that this is a relatively complex apparatus which would likely incur relatively high manufacturing and maintenance costs.